Steve Jobs: Few unknown facts about the legendary genius

Steve Jobs –known to all as a charismatic pioneer, an inventor and a businessman. However, few knew the person behind Apple’s most innovative products. In his biography, titled ‘Steve Jobs’, author Walter Isaacson tells the world some unknown facts about the legendary genius.

Jobs was particular about the little details in life, not just while designing the iPhones and the iPads, but also for his personal health. He refused to use deodorant claiming that his vegan diet would naturally clear up any body odour that may arise. It was this stubborn attitude that eventually hurt him as he refused to undergo any operation to treat his then curable tumour, saying that he did not want his body affected by surgery. Further, at the time when doctors suggested he have more protein in his diet, he would fast or eat a minimum quantity of fruits.

A romantic at heart, Jobs was not the best at showing his affection. Isaacson talks about an instance when Jobs was dating folk singer Joan Baez and kept telling her about a Ralph Lauren dress she would look great in. However, the evening that he actually took her to the store for the dress, he landed up buying a few shirts for himself and suggested that she buy the dress herself.

Jobs attention to detail was well known, however, some believed he was obsessive compulsive. He was known to drive employees crazy if a few frames were removed from an ad or over the thickness of line in a calculator widget. He had as many as 100 black turtlenecks in his wardrobe from the same designer, and sported the same look at all public events. Isaacson reveals that when Steve Jobs was undergoing liver transplant, he demanded that the doctors bring him five different models of the oxygen mask to test.

Jobs had his own philosophy about managing employees. He believed that yelling and badmouthing the employees, often seven days a week and sometimes even late into the night, helped extract the best performance from the staff. While some employees believed he could have achieved the desired results by being a bit nicer, others claimed that this inspired them to do some of the best work of their careers. The book also mentions several instanced of Jobs tearing up. He would often start crying if he didn’t get his way with the product design or corporate organization. He would also tear up when he was happy and when he encountered what he considered to be the purity of spirit.

An inventor, Jobs was always looking to create and design newer things. Even when he was unwell, he would work on designing a sea-vessel, which is said to be very minimalist but at the same time very tastefully done. Given up for adoption to the Jobs family by his birth parents, Steve Jobs never responded to his birth father’s (Abdulfattah Jandali) request for a proper meeting.

Even with some of these facts being known to the world, Steve Jobs still continues to remain a mystery. His inventions revolutionized the way a user would operate a computer or a mobile phone.  A legend and a genius, Steve Jobs is not a name that will be forgotten for a long time.